Subj : The Weekly ARRL Letter
To : All
From : Sean Dennis
Date : Fri Feb 07 2020 09:05 am
The ARRL Letter
February 6, 2020
* ARRL HF Band Planning Committee Seeks Comments on Recommendations
* "The Auroral Connection" to Be Focus of 2020 HamSCI Workshop
* Undersea Expedition Planned to Retrieve Titanic's Radio Gear
* The K7RA Solar Update
* Just Ahead in Radiosport
* Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, Elected AMSAT President
* ARISS Announces Hosts for Space Station Ham Radio Contacts
* 7X7X DXpedition Showcases Cooperation and Youth
* President Signs PIRATE Act to Combat Illegal Broadcasting
* In Brief...
* Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions
ARRL HF Band Planning Committee Seeks Comments on Recommendations
The ARRL HF Band Planning Committee is seeking comments and suggestions
from the amateur radio community on its report to the ARRL Board of
Directors. At the Board's January meeting, the committee presented its
specific recommendations in graphical form for each HF band and each US
license class, with the goal of increasing harmony on the HF bands,
particularly between CW and digital users.
"In general, the committee is of the opinion that there is
justification for additional space to become available for digital
modes, as well as for the operation of digital stations under automatic
control," the committee told the Board. "The very changes in spectrum
usage that have required our committee's resurgence indicate that
digital modes of communication are already increasing in popularity,
and the trend is expected to continue or even accelerate. To this end,
we have tried to ensure that digital allocations are sufficient for at
least a modicum of growth."
The committee also anticipates an increase in automatically controlled
digital stations (ACDS). The report further points to "significant use"
of modern data modes in emergency communication and said its
recommendations provide significant support for the evolution and
continued relevance of amateur radio. "Our failure to adapt to these
needs could consign amateur radio to the technological scrap heap," the
report said.
The committee was revived last summer to consider conflicts between FT
and JT modes and other modes. The panel's approach has been to
designate distinct assignments for CW, narrowband (NB) data <500 Hz,
wideband (WB) data <2800 Hz, and ACDS. For its work, the committee
presumed approval of three ARRL petitions to the FCC: RM-11708 (WT
Docket WT 16-239 -- "symbol rate" proceeding), RM-11759 (80/75 meter
allocations), and RM-11828 (enhanced Technician privileges). The
committee also assumed that users can agree to sharing arrangements
within a given allocation -- narrowband versus wideband sharing within
the ACDS allocation, for example. It also took into consideration how
mode usage is regulated or planned elsewhere in the world.
In terms of mode classes, the committee agreed on CW, NB data, WB data,
NB with ACDS, and WB with ACDS. The committee said it considered these
mode classes incompatible and that they should not have overlapping
allocations, with the exception of CW, which is authorized within any
amateur radio allocation. The committee's approach would maintain the
existing low-end 25 kHz CW-only sub-bands for exclusive use by Amateur
Extra-class licensees.
The panel encouraged CW identification and a listen-before-transmitting
protocol for ACDS, if feasible. It also decided that a single
allocation for ACDS without regard to bandwidth would be the best
approach. "We note that this will put responsibility on the digital
community to hold an effective dialog on the issue and to then
self-regulate the users of this segment to adhere to the eventual
agreement." A need for flexibility in allocations is desirable, the
committee said, and considered whether allocations might be time-of-day
or time-of-week dependent, for example.
"Modern amateurs must expect to adapt to this kind of fluid assignment
of spectrum to incompatible uses, using time-based sharing, rather than
only a single assignment," the committee said, expressing the hope that
as band plan/sharing agreements are reached that they consider the
advantage of "non-simultaneous sharing possibilities."
Reiterating the position ARRL has taken in recent FCC filings, the
committee said it sees encryption and open-source enforcement matters
as being outside the scope of the Band Planning Committee.
The Committee would like comments by February 19.
"The Auroral Connection" to Be Focus of 2020 HamSCI Workshop
Registration is open for the third annual HamSCI Workshop for amateur
radio operators and professional scientists, Friday and Saturday, March
20 - 21, at The University of Scranton. The theme of this year's
workshop is "The Auroral Connection," and will include addresses by
guest speakers, poster presentations, and demonstrations of relevant
instrumentation and software. All radio amateurs, scientists, and
anyone interested in ionospheric and space physics are welcome.
The workshop will serve as a team meeting for the HamSCI Personal Space
Weather Station project, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded
project awarded to University of Scranton physics and electrical
engineering professor Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF. The project seeks to
harness the power of a network of radio amateurs to better understand
and measure the effects of weather in the upper levels of Earth's
atmosphere. Through the grant, Frissell, a space physicist, will lead a
collaborative team that will develop modular, multi-instrument,
ground-based space science observation equipment and data collection
and analysis software. He will also recruit multiple universities and
ham radio users to operate the network of Personal Space Weather
Stations developed.
In addition to Scranton, the Personal Space Weather Station project
includes participation from TAPR; the Case Western Reserve University
Amateur Radio Club, W8EDU; the University of Alabama; the New Jersey
Institute of Technology Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research; MIT
Haystack Observatory; Dartmouth College, and the ham radio community at
large.
Noted contester and DXer Tim Duffy, K3LR, will deliver the keynote
address. The chief operating officer and general manager at DX
Engineering, Duffy chairs Contest University, the Dayton Contest
Dinner, and the Top Band Dinner, as well as coordinates the Contest
Super Suite. He is the founder and moderator of the popular RFI
Reflector. Duffy serves on the ARRL Foundation Board of Directors as
well as on the board of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation
(WWROF), and as chairman and president emeritus of the Radio Club of
America.
Other speakers at the workshop include Elizabeth MacDonald, the NASA
researcher who founded and leads the Aurorasaurus project. She will
discuss fundamentals of auroral physics, its optical signatures, and
the Aurorasaurus citizen science project. James LaBelle, a professor of
physics and astronomy at Dartmouth University and auroral radio
physicist, and David Hallidy, K2DH, a retired microwave engineer who is
also well-known for his work in auroral-mode propagation will also
speak.
ditional information on the conference is available on the HamSCI
Workshop 2020 website.
Undersea Expedition Planned to Retrieve Titanic's Radio Gear
The company with sole rights to salvage artifacts from the RMS Titanic
has gone to court to gain permission to carry out a "surgical removal
and retrieval" of the Marconi radio equipment on the ship, a Washington
Post article reports. The Titanic sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage
after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. As the radio room
filled with water, radio operator Jack Phillips transmitted, "Come at
once. We have struck a berg. It's a CQD, old man," and other frantic
messages for help, using the spark transmitter on board. CQD was
ultimately replaced with SOS -- which Phillips also used -- as the
universal distress call. The passenger liner RMS Carpathia responded
and rescued 705 of the passengers.
A recreation of the Titanic radio
room.
As might be expected, the deteriorating Marconi equipment is in poor
shape after more than a century under water. The undersea retrieval
would mark the first time an artifact was collected from within the
Titanic, which many believe should remain undisturbed as the final
resting place of some 1,500 victims of the maritime disaster, including
Phillips. The wreck sits on the ocean floor some 2 1/2 miles beneath
the surface, remaining undiscovered until 1985.
A just-signed treaty between the UK and the US grants both countries
authority to allow or deny access to the wreck and to remove items
found outside the vessel. "This momentous agreement with the United
States to preserve the wreck means it will be treated with the
sensitivity and respect owed to the final resting place of more than
1,500 lives," British Transport and Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said
in a statement.
The request to enter the rapidly disintegrating wreck was filed in US
District Court in Eastern Virginia by RMS Titanic, Inc. of Atlanta,
Georgia, which said that it hopes to restore the Titanic radio
transmitter to operating condition, if it is allowed to go forward.
The company plans to use a manned submarine to reach the wreck and then
deploy a remotely controlled sub that would perforate the hull and
retrieve the radio equipment.
The K7RA Solar Update
Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: We saw a nice run of Cycle 24 and
Cycle 25 sunspots from January 24 through February 1. The daily sunspot
number reached a short-term peak of 18 on January 26.
Average daily sunspot numbers declined from the 11.1 reported last week
to 4.7 during the current reporting week, January 30 - February 5.
Predicted solar flux for the next 45 days is 70 on February 6 - 13; 72
on February 14 - 20; 73 on February 21 - 22; 74 on February 23 - 29; 72
on March 1 - 3; 71 on March 4 - 11; 72 on March 12 - 18; 73 on March 19
- 20, and 74 on March 21.
Predicted planetary A index is 12 and 8 on February 6 - 7; 5 on
February 8 - 24; 10 on February 25 - 26; 5 on February 27 - 29; 8 on
March 1 - 3, and 5 on March 4 - 21.
Sunspot numbers for January 30 through February 5 were 11, 11, 11, 0,
0, 0, and 0, with a mean of 4.7. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 74.1,
73.9, 72.5, 72.2, 72.1, 70.3, and 70.6, with a mean of 72.2. Estimated
planetary A indices were 12, 8, 6, 6, 5, 5, and 5, with a mean of 6.7.
Middle latitude A index was 9, 6, 4, 4, 3, 5, and 4, with a mean of 5.
A comprehensive K7RA Solar Update is posted Fridays on the ARRL
website. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the
ARRL Technical Information Service, read "What the Numbers Mean...,"
and check out K9LA's Propagation Page.
A propagation bulletin archive is available. Monthly charts offer
propagation projections between the US and a dozen DX locations.
Share your reports and observations.
Just Ahead in Radiosport
* February 8 -- FISTS Winter Unlimited Sprint (CW)
* February 8 -- RSGB 1.8 MHz Contest (CW)
* February 8 -- Asia-Pacific Spring Sprint (CW)
* February 8 - 9 -- CQ World Wide RTTY WPX Contest
* February 8 - 9 -- SARL Field Day Contest (CW, phone, digital)
* February 8 - 9 -- KCJ Topband Contest (CW)
* February 8 - 9 -- Dutch PACC Contest (CW, phone)
* February 8 - 9 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (CW)
* February 8 - 10 -- YLRL YL-OM Contest (CW, phone, digital)
* February 8 - 9 -- OMISS QSO Party (Phone)
* February 9 -- Balkan HF Contest (CW, phone)
* February 9 - 12 -- Classic Exchange, Phone
* February 10 -- CQC Winter QSO Party (CW)
* February 10 -- 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint (CW, phone)
* February 10 - 14 -- ARRL School Club Roundup (CW, phone)
* February 12 -- NAQCC CW Sprint
* February 12 -- RSGB 80-Meter Club Championship (Digital)
See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth
reporting on amateur radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest
Update via your ARRL member profile email preferences.
Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, Elected AMSAT President
During a teleconference meeting this week, the AMSAT Board of Directors
elected Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, of Granbury, Texas, as AMSAT President.
Coleman had served as a member of the Board of Directors and as AMSAT
Secretary from 2017 until 2019, and he has volunteered in several other
capacities for AMSAT, including as chair of the 2016 AMSAT Space
Symposium. He succeeds Joe Spier, K6WAO, who resigned recently, citing
personal reasons, after being in office since October 2017.
Coleman was introduced to amateur radio in space through the SAREX
program -- the forerunner to ARISS -- and the Russian Mir space
station. His interest in setting up an AX.25 BBS and nodes in the early
1990s led him to try making contacts via the Mir Personal Message
System (PMS) and digipeater. In 2011, Coleman became interested in
OSCAR satellites and began chasing operating awards.
Coleman's focus as president will be working with members to improve
organizational processes and aligning them with strategic goals.
Professionally, Coleman works in the industrial process control sector
both as a consultant and business development manager.
AMSAT members will have an opportunity to meet Coleman at Orlando
HamCation on Saturday, February 8, when he will greet visitors at the
AMSAT booth from 9:30 - 10:30 AM and 2 - 3 PM. He will also speak at
the AMSAT Forum at 12:30 PM on Saturday in Room CS III at the Lakeside
Pavilion. -- Thanks to AMSAT News Service
ARISS Announces Hosts for Space Station Ham Radio Contacts
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has announced
the names of schools and organizations selected to host amateur radio
contacts with International Space Station crew members during the
second half of 2020.
Ten proposals were accepted to move forward in the selection process
and placed in a scheduling queue for an amateur radio contact between
July and December 2020. Although ARISS expects to schedule all 10
during this period, changes to NASA crew availability may force
postponement of some contact opportunities until the first half of
2021.
The schools and host organizations are:
* Estes Park Elementary School, Estes Park, Colorado
* Green Bank Elementary-Middle School, Green Bank, West Virginia
* Tecumseh Public School, Tecumseh, Oklahoma
* Regional School Unit 21, Kennebunk, Maine
* John F. Kennedy High School, Denver, Colorado
* Oregon Charter School, Mill City, Oregon
* Newcastle High School; Newcastle, Wyoming
* Tarwater Elementary School, Chandler, Arizona
* Kopernik Observatory and Science Center, Vestal, New York
* Salem-South Lyon District Library, South Lyon, Michigan
7X7X DXpedition Showcases Cooperation and Youth
A cooperative agreement the Algerian and Tunisian IARU member-societies
signed in 2014 to reinforce relations through joint activities bore
fruit with the 7X7X DXpedition to Algeria late last year. Preparations
began in late October 2019, with the goal of activating Algeria on the
low bands to benefit from the slump in the solar cycle.
Co-leader Ash Chaabane, 3V8SF/KF5EYY, said organizers wanted to take
advantage of the DXpedition to boost interest among younger hams. Four
young people were involved in the event as a result: Sarra, 7X2QV;
Lotfi Kara, 7X2QC; Marwa, 3V8CB, and Ahmed Boubaker, 3V1B/KG5OUE, who
are all in their 20s. Three of them have participated in Youngsters On
The Air (YOTA) events sponsored by the International Amateur Radio
Union (IARU). Chaabane said the youthful contingent was involved from
setup to tear down, in addition to operating.
In addition to Chaabane, the team included co-leader Afif Ben Lagha,
7X2RO; Brahim Mohamed, 7X3TL; Redha el Bahi, 7X5QB, and Abdelghani
Mesbah, 7X2TT/M0NPT. The Tunisian team flew from Tunis to Algiers,
arriving on December 28 in Bejaia to join the Algerian team. "We
immediately started putting up antennas," Chaabane said.
7X2TT kicked off the operation through the Es'hail satellite,
demonstrating for the benefit of the younger operators how ham radio
satellites work. The rest of the team built a nearly 40-foot tall
inverted L for 160 meters; a full quarter-wave vertical for 80 meters;
a two-element Fritzel Yagi for the high bands; a seven-element Yagi for
VHF; a K9AY receiving loop, and a ground plane for 30 meters, which
operated on 40 meters as well with the addition of a loading coil.
"We did our best to operate two stations at a time," Chaabane
recounted. "We had quite few technical issues, but we overcame them."
7X7X ended up logging 5,800 contacts in 4 days, and the operating
schedule was intentionally flexible.
The mode breakdown showed 38% CW, 55% SSB, and 7% FT8. "We had 1,121
QSOs on 160 and 798 on 80," Chaabane said, with 356 US and 30 JA
contacts on 160 meters.
One objective of the DXpedition was to bond and form a strong team
capable of larger operations in the future, Chaabane said.
The DXpedition team expressed its appreciation for the support from the
Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF), the Lone Star DX Association
(LSDXA), and the Mediterraneo DX Club (MDXC), as well as some
individual hams. "This support is a solid investment into the future of
the ham radio hobby," Chaabane said. "We urge all DXpeditioners to
involve youngsters in their future trips and do their best to make it
easy and least costly for them." -- Thanks to IARU
President Signs PIRATE Act to Combat Illegal Broadcasting
On January 24, President Donald Trump signed into law the "Preventing
Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act," or the PIRATE Act. The
measure, which amends the Communications Act of 1934, authorizes
enhanced penalties for violators. Under the new law, pirate radio
broadcasters would be subject to a fine of not more than $2 million,
and violators could be fined up to $100,000 for each day during which
an offense occurs. The new law stipulates that the FCC "shall not
decrease or diminish the regular enforcement efforts targeted to pirate
radio broadcast stations for other times of the year."
The FCC is to submit to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and
the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation a report
summarizing the implementation of this section and associated
enforcement activities for the previous fiscal year. The new law also
requires "annual sweeps," during which FCC personnel will be assigned
to "focus specific and sustained attention on the elimination of pirate
radio broadcasting within the top five radio markets identified as
prevalent for such broadcasts." The Commission also "shall conduct
monitoring sweeps to ascertain whether the pirate radio broadcasting
identified by enforcement sweeps is continuing and whether additional
pirate radio broadcasting is occurring."
Under the new law, the FCC will change its rules so that it proceeds
directly to issuance of a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) without
first issuing a Notice of Unlicensed Operation (NOUO).
The FCC will develop and publish a database of all licensed AM and FM
broadcasters, accessible directly from the FCC home page. The FCC is
also required to publish a list of "all entities that have received a
Notice of Unlicensed Operation, Notice of Apparent Liability, or
forfeiture order," as well as "each entity...operating without a
Commission license or authorization."
The law defines pirate radio broadcasting as transmitting within the AM
and FM bands without an FCC license, but excluding unlicensed
operations in compliance with Part 15.
In Brief...
Brief Interruptions of ARRL Headquarters Systems are planned for
Thursday, February 13. The ARRL IT Department anticipates two short
interruptions to these Headquarters-based systems: Logbook of The
World; Online DXCC; International Grid Chase Archive; National Parks on
the Air Archive; Centennial QSO Party Archive, and the W1AW EchoLink
Conference Server. The interruptions should occur on Thursday, February
13, between 1200 - 2200 UTC. Each interruption should be less than 10
minutes in length.
Former ARRL East Bay Section Manager Ti-Michelle Connelly, NJ6T, of
Yuma, Arizona, died late last week. She served as SM from 2003 until
2007. An ARRL Life Member, she was 72. The California native also held
other Field Organization appointments, including Net Manager,
Affiliated Club Coordinator, Assistant Section Manager, and Official
Emergency Station. Connelly was also an ARRL VEC and W5YI VEC Volunteer
Examiner. "Her spirit and fun will be sorely missed by many of us this
year," said a friend, Kristen McIntyre, K6WX.
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has completed the makeover
of its main website and the three regional websites -- all with the
same basic design. The three regional sites can be accessed directly
from the IARU home page. All of the updated pages are organized to
broadly mirror the structure of the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) and its related regional telecommunication organizations.
The Region 2 web page is available in English or Spanish. Each page
offers a look at recent IARU news and events. -- Thanks to IARU
Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ
Amateur radio volunteers in Turkey supported the response to a powerful
magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck the province of Elazig on January
24. Radio amateurs affiliated with the national International Amateur
Radio Union member-society TRAC assisted in the response. Aziz Sasa,
TA1E, at TRAC Headquarters reported, "The affected area was very small
and the intensity limited; our involvement was also limited." He said
two TRAC branches in the affected area stepped in, assisting by
providing tactical communication in the affected area and supporting
the Ministry of Health by installing and getting their mountaintop
repeater operational. "Due to the relatively limited scale of the
disaster, foreign assistance was not needed," he told IARU Region 1
Emergency Communications Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB. The earthquake
caused about 40 deaths and more than 1,600 injuries as well as
considerable property damage.
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